Rules: North American SSB Sprint

Object: For North American stations to contact as many radio amateurs as possible. For non-North American stations to contact as many North American stations as possible.

Entry Classification: Single-Operator only. Use of spotting information obtained directly
or indirectly from any source other than the station operator, such as from other
stations or automated tools, is prohibited. Three Power Level Categories:
a. High Power (up to 1500 W)
b. Low Power (up to 100 W)
c. QRP (up to 5 W)

Mode: SSB only in the SSB Sprint. If you are interested in the CW or RTTY Sprint, see this web site.

Bands: 20, 40 and 80 meters only. You may work the same station once per band. Suggested frequencies are:
20m: 14200 to 14275
40m: 7125 to 7225
80m: 3700 to 3825 (stay out of the DX window 3790 to 3800)

Exchange: To have a valid exchange, you must send all of the following information: The other station’s call sign, your call sign, your sequential serial number (start with 1, give next station 2, next is 3, etc.), your name and your location (US State, Canadian Province/Territory or Country. Note: DC is separate from MD.)
For example:
— K4XS KA9FOX 154 Scott Wisconsin (note this indicates this is KA9FOX’s 154th contact)
— KA9FOX 122 Bill Florida K4XS (note this indicates this is K4XS’s 122nd contact)
While the rules do not stipulate the exact order of the information transmitted, our Tips and Tricks page provides tips on the best order to use, depending on whether you are calling a station, or the one being called.

Valid Contact: A valid contact consists of a complete, correctly copied and logged two-way exchange between a North American station and another station. Proper logging requires including the time of each contact. Serial numbers must begin with serial number one and be sequential
thereafter.

North American Station: Defined by the rules of the CQ World Wide DX contests, plus KH6 (which is normally defined as Oceania, but in SSB Sprint, it is included as part of NA).

Scoring / Multiplier Info: Multiply total valid contacts by the sum of the US and Canadian multipliers (see below), and other North American countries to get final score (do not count US and Canada as countries). The District of Columbia (DC) counts separately from Maryland. KH6 DOES count as a state in this contest, even though it is not a North American country. The 51 US Multiplers are: [Lower 48 States, DC, AK/KL7 and HI/KH6]. The 13 Canadian multipliers are [AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, NT, NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT]. Non-North American countries do not count as multipliers but do count for contact credit for North American stations.

Special QSY Rule: If any station solicits a call (eg, by sending “CQ,” “QRZ?” “going up 5 kHz” or any other means of soliciting a response, including completion of a contact where the frequency was inherited), that station is permitted to work only one station in response to that solicitation.
The station must thereafter move at least 1 kHz before calling another station, or at least 5 kHz before soliciting other calls. Once a station is required to QSY, that station is not allowed to make another contact on the vacated frequency until or unless at least one subsequent contact is
made on a new frequency.

Additional Rules: Simultaneous transmission on more than one frequency is prohibited. All contacts must be sent and received using means that require real-time human intervention, detection and initiation. Each operator must use only one call sign during the contest.

Log Formatting: All logs must be submitted electronically (web upload, email, CD, etc). The file format for electronic logs is Cabrillo (ver 2.x or 3.x). Entrants who do not use computer logging are encouraged to use the manual Web-to-Cabrillo online forms available at the links below to enter their contact data from their paper logs.

Log Submission: Entries must be received no later than 7 days after the Sprint. Methods of log submission in order of preference are:
a. PREFERRED METHOD; Upload Cabrillo-formatted log via the Submit Log web form. If possible, name the file CALLSIGN.LOG.
b. Mail a CD containing ASCII log file, to the SSB Sprint Manager. Contact us for Address.
c. Mail paper log. Contact us for Address.
NOTE: If you have a paper log and would like to create a Cabrillo-formatted log that can be uploaded to our website, you can manually enter your log into this tool: http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/nasprintssb_cab.php

Team Competition: Team competition is limited to a maximum of 5 operators as a single entry unit. Groups having more than 5 team members may submit more than one team entry. To qualify as a team entry, the team registration form on the NA SSB Sprint Website must be completed before the contest starts.

Penalties and Disqualification: Contacts with incorrect received information will be removed. Contacts not found in the other station’s log will be removed with a one-contact penalty. Entries with score reductions in excess of 5 percent may be disqualified. Any entry also may be disqualified for illegibility, illegal or unethical operation.